Posting will be a little light this month as I’ll be participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Every November tens of thousands of would-be novelists from across the world hunker down in front of their computers, their typewriters, their notebooks and napkins, and write a 50 thousand word opus. And the prize? The novel you’ve always dreamed of writing.

Sure it sounds a little crazy, maybe a lot crazy. To reach that 50 thousand word goal by the end of the month means churning out nearly 2000 words a day, which sounds pretty scary the more I think about it. But I’m going to give it a go, in the hopes of recapturing the literary voice of my youth, as corny as that sounds. 🙂

I’ll still be covering the major events that happen over the course of the month however, starting with the votes in Maine and Washington state later this week, so I won’t be abandoning the site entirely.

So your patience and encouragement during this period is most welcome. Feel free to comment here from time to time, as I may even blog about my progress, or lack-there-of.

Also if you’d like to sponsor my efforts please visit my Night of Writing Dangerously page. Thanks!

When I first started this blog I saw it as a writing exercise, flexing a noodle that was quite active in my younger days. I read and wrote voraciously as a teenager, but in the years since I have litterally limped along, pining for those days and doing little or nothing to recapture the energy that made writing almost as necessary as breathing.

As I continue to pursue interests and dreams outside of my regular work, and with the unconditional support of family and friends, that old energy seems to be returning. Stringing words together seems more natural and less a chore than it did just a year ago. While I’ve got a long way to go, I see a time not unlike the old days, when I’d spend hours laboring away at the typewriter, writing for myself, and for my friends. Believing if you can make yourself and your friends happy, the rest takes care of itself.

Over the past several months I have captured much of the writing of those years as computer files. Some of it’s good, and some well.. is frankly embarrassing, some aren’t even finished. A couple of pieces I don’t remember writing at all. But I’ll be posting them all here for your reading pleasure, or pain, depending on the piece :). I’d love to hear your feedback on each story… good or bad, what you liked, didn’t like, and maybe if it’s worth revisiting. I will be doing a bit of touch up on each story, fixing spelling/grammatical errors for the most part, but they will remain intact. The stories will be posted as PDF files, so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader or similar to view. You can download the Adobe Acrobat Reader software by clicking here.

I will start with a story called “The Journey”, which I wrote a few years ago. It’s been revised recently and is one of the stronger pieces I have written. I’ll be working my way backwards in time from here, and it’s likely to be downhill much of the time, so hang on. 🙂 Anyways, I hope you enjoy it. Download The Journey.